Well, it wasn’t the worst month of the year. It was the second worst. Take that July. I’m not sure what has been going on this summer, but it has been pretty awful. Hopefully, the summer slowdown is over. Here’s the breakdown:

Clipartof was number one again with 32% of passive earnings. Shutterstock was second with 15%. Dreamstime continued its trend of better numbers and finished 3rd (14%). MyStockVectors and Toon Vectors were 4th and 5th with 12% each. GL and Can Stock rounded out the significant earners. Both were at 6%. Everybody else was 1% or under.

I removed my portfolio at Big Stock and Veer. Big Stock’s RPD was slipping to around 50 cents, so it just didn’t seem worth it to continue on there. Veer had slipped to very few sales, and their multitude image partners was a little disturbing to me.

July was my worst month of the year. This summer seems a little more brutal than usual. Maybe, it is just me though.

Clipartof was my number one site again with 33% of my micro earnings. Shutterstock was second at 18%. Dreamstime came in third at 14%. Next was Toon Vectors at 9%. Can Stock (7%), GL (6%), and MyStockVectors (6%) brought up the rear with Cutcaster sneaking in at 3%. The rest were 1% or under.

It was a really slow month at my own site, so that makes it even more disappointing. I did get to my image goal for the year of 20,000 images and 500 Design Files. So, there was a little bit of positive news. Hopefully, August is a better month.

Well, it hit. The dreaded summer slowdown has arrived. June was my worst month of the year. Here’s the breakdown:

Clipartof retained its top spot with 31% of my earnings. Shutterstock was second with 17%. It was closely followed by my own site (17%). Dreamstime had a pretty solid month and was fourth (13%). Toon Vectors was fifth at 6%. GL Images (5%), Can Stock (3%), Drawshop (3%) and Veer (2%) rounded out the bottom. Everyone else was 1% or under.

It’s discouraging to see earnings dip so far from May, but it seems to happen this time of year. Maybe, I’ll get lucky and July will be better.

Great month! It was my 3rd best month ever (just behind May of last year). If my referral earnings at Shutterstock didn’t dry up this month, I might have beaten last May. Here’s the breakdown:

Clipartof retained its place at the top with 25% of my total passive earnings. My site, MyStockVectors, was second with 20%. Shutterstock came in third with 17%. Toon Vectors was a close 4th at 16%. Dreamstime was a distant 5th at 9%. Finally, Can Stock (6%), GL (3%) and Big Stock (2%) made up the lower earners. The rest were 1% or under.

Well, it is that time again. Time for another monthly passive income update. April was the best month of the year so far, and my 5th best month ever. It was only about $20 better than March, but I’ll take it. Here’s the breakdown:

Clipartof led the way again with 30% of passive earnings. Shutterstock clung to 2nd with 16%. It was followed closely by MyStockVectors (16%) and Toon Vectors (14%). Dreamstime was 5th at 8%. Can Stock (4%), GL (4%), and Big Stock (3%) trailed the pack. And the rest were 1% or under.

Everything still seems to be growing, so I can’t really complain. It would be nice to add another agency or two to the ones I regularly submit to, but everything is working now. So, I guess I’ll just keep plugging away.

Up next, May. May was my best month last year, so I hope I can repeat its success this year.

My best month of the year so far, and my 5th best month ever. Also, my highest earning month since last May (Narrowly beating last August). Here’s the breakdown:

Clipartof crushed the competition with 32% of my passive earnings. Shutterstock showed some of its old life with 20%. MyStockVectors was a strong third at 15%. Toon Vectors continued its rise with 11% of earnings. Things were a little slow after that. Dreamstime was sluggish at 7%. Can Stock didn’t even break $100 at 3%. GL and Big Stock were both 2% and Drawshop was 1%. Everybody else was under 1%.

Other than that, there is not too much to report. RPD seemed to slip a little this month. Some of that could be the increase in sales at SS though. Also, it seemed like Big Stock’s subscription sales were building this month. I’m not too pleased about them adding those, so they probably won’t be one of my partners for too much longer.

It was a decent month. I needed a couple more days to make it a good month, but that’s February. Here’s the agency breakdown.

Clipartof was my top agency again with 29% of my passive earnings. My own site, MyStockVectors, barely edged out Shutterstock with 15%. Shutterstock was 15% as well. It really only came down to a few dollars difference. Toon Vectors jumped up to 4th place with 12%. Dreamstime was next with 10%. Can Stock was 6% and GL was 3%. Everybody else was 1% or under.

As George Peppard (Hannibal from The A-Team) would say,”I love it when a plan comes together”. It’s nice to see the three agencies I’ve been concentrating on lately (Clipartof, Toon Vectors & MyStockVectors) becoming my top agencies. Hopefully, the trend continues. I also started uploading more to Drawshop, but I haven’t seen much growth yet.

On a side note, it was a very strange month. The changes at Google (specifically Google Images) halved traffic to my site, but sales were still strong. I’m not really sure what to make of it, but I’m glad it didn’t destroy everything I’d built so far. It’s kind of scary that Google has that much power. I guess that’s the internet though.

The first month of the year is in the books. January made my top 10 best months as far as earnings. It came in at number seven. January can be a hit or miss month, so it was nice to see the year start out great. Here’s the breakdown:

Clipartof led the way again with 27% of earnings. My own site, MyStockVectors, dethroned Shutterstock, the reigning number 2, with 22%. Shutterstock slipped to third with 15%. It was followed by Dreamstime (8%), Can Stock (7%), GL Images (6%) and Toon Vectors (5%). Big Stock showed a little life this month at 3%. The rest were 1% or under.

I’d like to say that one month in I already hit one of my goals for the new year. I wanted to earn over $500 in a month at my own site. Mission accomplished!

Overall, I’m excited about this year. Things seem to be shaping up for a good one. Hopefully, things don’t stall out too bad in a short February that starts with a weekend.

I killed my iStock account a couple years ago, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t have problems. No, I’m not talking about falling sales. I’m also not talking about them paying independents less than 20% royalties. Nor am I talking about forcing contributors onto their partner programs. Any of those reasons would be enough for any sane contributor to pack up their bags and leave, but they pushed even farther with their newest “deal”. So, what is this deal? Basically, they are allowing Google to redistribute images from iStock for free through their Google Drive.

Well, it looks like this might be the straw that broke the camel’s back because contributors are up in arms. They are threatening to delete their accounts, images and probably more. You can read more about it on Warmpicture.com. You can also see contributor’s reactions on MSG.